


Speaking Up

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Family, Gen, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 19:53:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19216387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Dave wasn't sure how to handle it, but handle it he would.





	Speaking Up

“Uncle Dave?”

Rossi finished his sentence before looking toward his home office doorway, not because what he was writing really needed to be finished, but because he could see the nervous way the boy was shifting from foot to foot and he wanted to give him a moment. “Come in, Jack.” He finally spoke, setting his pen back into its holder. Watching the boy cross the room and take a seat in the chair, it made Dave realize that Jack wasn’t really a boy anymore.  When he didn’t speak, Dave eventually prompted him. “What’s up?”

“Something happened last week and…” He sighed, to Dave it looked as if the weight of the whole had just settled on his shoulders. “If I’m wrong, I don’t want him mad at me.”

At those words, Dave realized this was going to be one of those times where he needed to be closer, so he stood and took the other chair, scooting it close before sitting, resting his arms across his knees. “Your dad?”

Jack only nodded.

“How about you start at the beginning, Son. Wherever in your mind you think that is. Okay?”

Another nod. Then a shuddered inhale. “I don’t really know when that is. I just…In school this year, they talk a lot about suicide and if you feel like hurting yourself and stuff and… And today they had someone come in again and talk about things to watch for in friends and to tell an adult and so I asked and…”

Dave’s brows knit together. “I’m not sure I’m following. You think there’s someone hurting themselves?”

He nodded again.

“Who?”

Tears instantly sprung to his eyes; his voice dropped to a whisper that Rossi barely heard. “My dad.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, what to ask to that. If Jack was even suggesting such a thing, then he had to have a reason. “Talk to me.” He reached out and placed a hand on Jack’s knee. “Just let it out, don’t worry about making sense of it, we can sort it out together.”

“Last summer, when we went camping, Dad accidentally burned himself at the campfire. It looked really bad, but he said he was okay. I think it hurt him though because he would touch it a lot, press on it.”

_They’d collected sticks from the woods, all sorts of sizes, and had started out with the small kindling to create their blaze. Jack stayed back while his dad added larger branches to make the fire grow._

_“Remember, Jack, you have to stay away and let me take care of the fire, okay?”_

_“Okay, Dad.”_

_The fire had grown and father and son had cooked their dinner and roasted marshmallows over it. Jack was drifting in and out of slumber when his dad got up to move some of the logs around. As he did, flames jumped from between two of the logs, making Jack jump when his dad cried out._

_“Dad!”_

_“I’m okay, Jack.” Aaron rushed, not wanting his son to start panicking. As calmly as he could, he moved to tend to his arm in the darkness. Pressing a damp cloth to it, he hissed._

_The following morning, Jack got a peek at the injury on his dad’s arm. “Daddy?”_

_“Yes, Jack?”_

_“Does your arm hurt? Do we have to leave and go to a doctor?”_

_“I’m okay.” He ruffled his son’s hair. “Don’t worry.”_

Dave watched as he swallowed, preparing to carry on. “After it finally healed, I noticed there was a new burn on his arm, and I asked how he got hurt. He said he was checking the oil in his truck and hadn’t let the engine cool off enough.” He stopped to swipe away a tear.

“Okay.”

“He started wearing long sleeved shirts around the house all the time. I caught him reaching into the oven when he was making dinner with his bare hand.” Glassy eyes rose to meet Dave’s.

He could see the concern in Jack’s face and knew he had to think of the correct response. “Is that everything?”

“He buys lighters. I didn’t know what he was doing with so many, but last week…” Fresh tears erupted. “Last week I woke up late at night, I thought I heard something so I crept to Dad’s room, but he wasn’t there. I looked around and found him on his bathroom floor, in the dark. The door wasn’t all the way shut, so he doesn’t know I saw it.”

Dave let the silence linger a minute. “Saw what?”

“His arms, his chest, they all look really bad. He was crying and then he took a lighter and held it to his skin for a really long time. He made this noise, like he was in pain maybe, but he didn’t stop.” Tears streamed down his face now. “He just kept doing it and eventually the noise changed, and he looked…different.” Jack swiped the tears away.

_Jack peered through the crack in the bathroom door. Inside, his dad was seated on the floor, back against the wall, and he was crying. He was about to go in, but his dad lifted  lighter and watched the flame, seemingly entranced by it as it danced. After a minute of silence, he pulled the lighter to his arm and held it there._

_Jack didn’t understand, why was his dad doing that? He wanted to speak up, to ask, but he was supposed to be in bed asleep. Through the space in the door, he could see as his father’s hand shaking, the flame bouncing and trembling against his flesh._

_Inside, Aaron cried harder. Jack was scared. Then, just when the boy thought he couldn’t see anymore, he father’s face relaxed, his mouth dropped open and his head rolled back._

“What did you do after that?”

“I went back to my room. The next morning, he was so happy. He made pancakes for us even though it was a work and school day and… I don’t know… it was weird. But he keeps touching the spot, like he did after we went camping.”

“This was a week ago?” He watched Jack nod. “I- You’ve been carrying this around inside you for a week, that’s a lot, Son. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“At school, they told us about some of the ways people hurt themselves and so today, today I asked if burning could be a way…and the person said yes.”

“Okay. I need to talk to your dad, okay? But I’m not going to let this go until I have a good answer.” Dave stood, pulling the boy, because as much as he was starting to resemble his father, he was still a boy who needed looking after, into his arms. “You have homework?”

Another nod. “I was trying to work on it, but I couldn’t focus.”

“Don’t worry about it. One night of missed work isn’t going to hurt you. I’ll call the school or something tomorrow.” He slowly escorted Jack back into the hall and watched him walk back toward a guest room. Turning, Dave headed back to his desk and sank into the chair with a sigh. There wasn’t going to be a way to pursue this without hurting his friend, he just hoped he didn’t hurt Jack as well in the process.

==

“What?”

Dave’s hand was still on the handle of his office door as he turned to face the younger man. Aaron had arrived to collect his son, but Dave had said they needed to talk privately first. “Please take off your jacket and shirt.” He repeated and watched as Aaron’s jaw muscles flexed. Clearly, he was crossing a line the younger man was set on defending at all costs. They could fight it out, but the shouts would draw Jack’s attention, something he wished to avoid, so he went for throwing Aaron for a loop, knocking him entirely off his game. “I want to be sure the burns are healing and aren’t infected.”

Whatever Aaron had been about to retort died as his eyes widened and those jaw muscles went rigid.

“Now. Strip, Aaron, before I do it for you.” He waited, watching, cataloguing every move as his friend’s eyes squeezed shut, as he turned his face away, as hands began working the knot of his tie. Dave waited as the tie was dumped carelessly into a chair, followed by the jacket and then, carefully, the shirt was unbuttoned, and, after a moment’s hesitation, it joined the rest. A t-shirt remained.

“The shirt too, Aaron.” As the shirt was peeled off, Dave felt as if he couldn’t breathe. There were clear marks up Aaron’s arms and across his torso, healed burns. Fresh burns. “Do I need you to strip any further?”

There was a moment of hesitation and then Rossi felt his heart sink as shoes were kicked off, as a belt was undone and as Aaron was down to just his boxer briefs before him.

“Is that everything?”

Dark eyes failed to meet his as Aaron chewed his bottom lip, nodding.

“Can I ask why?” His question got no response. “Aaron.” Nothing. He closed the space between then, lowering his voice. “Aaron. Talk to me.”

“It was an accident.”

“This was an accident?”

Aaron shook his head. “The first time was an accident… But it felt good. The pain, it helped drive away the other things. And it was safer than drinking.”

“ _This_ is safer than drinking?”

“I thought so.” Dave watched him shiver once. He wasn’t sure if it was from the slight chill in the air and being naked or something else. “It was just an occasional thing, but then after… The nightmares started up again and they wouldn’t go away and then I realized, this made them go away. And then it stopped helping and I needed _more_ and then I wondered if maybe I could make the scars go away and that would make the nightmares go away.”

That made Dave take pause. Taking his friend in, he realized that Aaron had been, in fact, burning the flesh around the scars of his stab wounds. “Aaron.” He sighed. “We need to get you some help.”

“I’m fine.”

“At the least, you need the burns looked at. We don’t need them infected.” He waved at the clothes in the chair. “Come on, get dressed.” When the younger man didn’t move, he turned and waited.

“I need to get Jack home; he has school tomorrow.”

“Jacks’ staying here, Aaron. I’ll make sure he gets to school when he needs to, but I think tomorrow might be too soon.”

“He’s my son. You can’t make decisions like that about him.”

Dave stopped again by the door. “Aaron.” He waited until he had his full attention. “There is one question you haven’t asked me yet.”

He watched Aaron think, he wasn’t going to give it up easily. Eventually, those dark eyes finally met his. “How did you know about them?”

He considered his answer before he gave it, knowing what kind of damage it could cause. “Jack told me. He’s seen them, or at least, some of them.”

 


End file.
